Episode 1020 - Winner Chosen
The twentieth episode of Season 10 of Hell's Kitchen aired on FOX, on September 10, 2012. On that episode, Christina and Justin competed in their final dinner service, and one of them was named the winner of Hell's Kitchen. Before service The episode began with a recap of the first nineteen episodes, mentioning what happened, and who got eliminated when. Continuing from the previous episode, Clemenza was about to walk out of the meeting, but Justin managed to stop him, told him that he did focus in his own way, but wanted him locked down. Despite Clemenza being pissed that he was not in the final two, he did not want to leave Justin, and told the latter how he felt he could have gone a step further if he did not get eliminated. However, Justin told Clemenza that they were past that now, but the latter felt he could do it and hoped for Justin to win as the latter wanted him to surprise him during service. The next day, Justin admitted to being excited for that night, but was still worried about Clemenza after last nights meeting. Then, Christina was trying not to freak out, called Dana her savior, and wanted to let out a cry. Later, Christina and Justin gathered their respective teams for a quick briefing, but Royce noticed that Clemenza was not around. Back in the kitchen, a downed Clemenza wanted to go home and wanted somebody to get him, so Justin came to get him as he wanted him to get focus and motivated. As both teams went into their kitchens for prepping, a focused Justin gave out orders to his team and wanted to make sure his dishes were correct. In the red kitchen, Christina went for a more relaxed approach, calling Dana her buddy once again, and wanted her team to be focused and motivated to win it for her. As both teams cooked sample dishes for Ramsay’s approval, Christina was nervous for Ramsay to taste her menu as it was her last chance to make corrections, while Justin discovered a smoking oven from Clemenza’s station, revealing that the crostini burnt. That horrified both Brian and Barbie as Justin called it a disaster, and pushed a slow Clemenza to get the refire up, before accusing him of breaking down. To the relief of Justin, Clemenza got the refires ready thanks to Brian’s help as the latter was willing to fight tooth and nail for Justin. Afterwards, Ramsay looked at the finalists’ menu items. For Justin, Ramsay found the sambuca cured wild salmon over salted from the olives, the cod dish looked a mess while still tasting good, and found the ribeye delicious. Afterwards, Justin gathered his team to look over some refinements, but found Ramsay’s critiques helpful as he strongly believed his menu would win him Hell’s Kitchen. For Christina, Ramsay found the scallops and asparagus risotto nice, but felt the jambalaya crab cake should go into a cocktail glass to make it look sexier, and wanted less collard greens on the pork dish. Afterwards, Christina found the critiques not bad as she needed to make a few changes and replating done, but was confident about her chances. With only a few minutes until service began, the finalists brought their teams to the back pantry for one last debriefing. Christina told her team that it was her last chance as she wanted them behind her and be it her way. For Justin, he reassured his team that he knew they could cook, and wanted to crush it. After, Ramsay asked James to open Hell’s Kitchen for the 140th time. Dinner service The finalists loved ones were in the dining room that night, and before receiving their first tickets, Ramsay wished them luck. Christina called out her first order and urged Robyn and Dana to communicate for the risotto dish, while Justin got barely a response from his team after calling out his first order until he repeated it multiple times. In the red kitchen, Robyn said she could get the risotto ready in three minutes, but Christina wanted an honest three minutes as the former proved to be a cancer on any team she was in, and had to keep a close eye on Robyn due to her attitude and careless mistakes. Fortunately, Robyn got her first attempt accepted. Twenty-five minutes into service, Royce forgot the sauce for the crab cakes, and Justin discovered they were cold in the middle. Feeling that Royce was not moving fast enough, Justin tried to push his team, but Royce’s refire was dry, and a miffed Ramsay ordered him to wake up as it was their first ticket. So, Justin ordered Brian to help Royce out, but the latter did not like how Justin freaked out over one mistake as it was not helping anybody. As Justin kept ordering Royce to get it done, the latter mocked him in the confessional before getting his third attempt accepted, and called himself the Rolls Royce. While most of the blue diners were enjoying their appetizers, it has been awhile since the red kitchen served any food. While Robyn served the risotto, Dana was trying her best to get the scallops perfect for Christina as she did not want the latter to look bad. However, Dana served dark scallops, and Robyn’s risotto was broken, although the latter blamed the former as it was left sitting at the pass too long. When Robyn brought up her risotto, she asked Dana where the fuck the scallops were, only for the latter serve an acceptable refire herself. That relieved Dana as that meant appetizers were over, and in the blue kitchen, Justin wanted to begin entrées, but was interrupted by Clemenza when he was trying to call out the order. After calling Clemenza a disaster, Justin and Ramsay discovered that the salmon was all raw, with the latter calling it ridiculous and even accused him of sabotaging Justin. While he said life could be a dick, Clemenza knew he had to step up his game in the back seat, and got his refire accepted. One hour into service, both kitchens done with appetizers, and when Christina checked on Dana’s halibut, she told the latter to give the portions a better sear. However, Dana did not see anything wrong with them, leading Christina to throw away their friendship as she was not able to let it slide and order her to restart the halibut. Dana argued that she had no time for that, only to send up the halibut that were dead at the station, and they were overcooked. When Dana tried to argue against that, Sous Chef Andi sternly warned her not to fucking thwart Christina and to do what she says, and Patrick accused her of screwing the pooch big time. Then, Ramsay warned Christina that her hard work would disintegrate unless she did something, but the latter decided to give Dana one last chance to fight back. In the blue kitchen, entrées were leaving the kitchen, but one customer’s cod entrée was sent back for being cold. Frustrated, Justin decided to be on his team’s case even further and order Royce to get the refire out immediately, but the latter argued that Justin should have checked it more carefully like an Executive Chef. In the red kitchen, Christina’s team sent up their refires for the first ticket, but when Dana walked the halibut down, Patrick noticed the frazzleness in her eyes and prayed that it would happen now. Fortunately, the halibut was done better, and the red diner received their entrées. In the blue kitchen, Justin was doing everything he could to keep the mistakes inside the kitchen by rejecting Royce’s fish and Brian’s garnish for taste factor and needing more salt respectively, but that also meant no food was leaving. That frustrated Justin as he could not go and do the work himself, before rejecting Barbie’s ribeye for being overcooked. In the red kitchen, Christina was on her final entrée, and needed her brigade to finish strong as it would be the last ticket they would ever cook in Hell’s Kitchen. However, while Kimmie and Patrick had their food up on the pass, Dana sliced into a pork that Ramsay noticed was raw in the middle, and she disappointingly wished to have performed better for Christina. Then, Ramsay gave Christina a choice to either restart the entire table, or send out what she had on the pass now, and she restart the entire table as she refused to let herself do something stupid on her final ticket, which Ramsay praised. Two hours into service, Barbie got her refire accepted and blue diners were receiving their orders. However, on their final ticket, Barbie sent up overcooked ribeye again, a frustrated Justin said she was better than that, and she was confused as why her meat was overcooking on her. As Justin felt his dreams were sinking, Barbie yet again sent up poor ribeyes, and announced she did not have enough portions for the two on order, much to Brian’s shock, and Royce told her to tell Justin, and when she did, the latter was dismayed by that. As Justin told James to offer the table filets as a replacements, Barbie knew how much on the line was for Justin and that she wanted to see him win before saying that she hated ribeyes. Then, Ramsay reminded both Christina and Justin that they were both on their final tickets, and urged them to push it out like their first ones. After pushing both their teams of getting it done, the finalists got their final entrées completed. After service ended, Christina knew she did the best she could and was proud of her team, while Justin could not believe it was over as he did everything he could. Post-mortem With both teams lined up, Ramsay deemed it an amazing service and praised them for a really great job. Then, Ramsay announced he was changing things up by discarding the two-door reveal, and decided to announce the winner right now, which was Tavon. That made everybody laugh in response, and Ramsay told Christina and Justin to head back to the dorms and wait for his call for his decision. After saying goodbye to their teams, the finalists returned to the dorms. Christina called winning the biggest, life-changing event and called it overwhelming, while Justin wanted to win more than everything, before hoping he did good enough. Meanwhile, Ramsay looked over the comment cards and both finalist’s time in the competition. Winner announced Later, Ramsay called the dorms, and asked Christina and Justin to come to his office. Christina reminded herself to breathe, and at Ramsay’s office, he praised the two for being phenomenal leaders that night. For Christina, Ramsay said he never seen a more passionate chef than herself, while calling Justin’s extraordinary palate a gift. After Ramsay asked the two to stand behind a door, with only the winner’s door being the one that opened. After anxiously waiting for Ramsay’s countdown, both turned their handles, but only Christina’s door opened. Christina was crowned the winner of Hell’s Kitchen and won the Head Chef’s position of Gordon Ramsay Steak at Las Vegas, along with a salary of $250,000, therefore making Justin the runner-up. Even though Justin called his door not opening the toughest thing in his life, he knew he gave everything he could give, and had no regrets from an amazing experience, while saying he would have walked out if he lost to anybody other than Christina. While taken aback by her win, Christina was happy that she won, and could not feel her body at the moment due to the overwhelming feeling. During the celebration, Ramsay told Brian that he was both a talented chef and a funny guy but hoped he could keep his focus more in the kitchen, before calling Royce hard-working and admitting he wanted to grill his head a couple of times. Throughout the celebrating, unseen footage of the chefs dancing was seen. Ramsay's comment: "Christina's passion and talent are undeniable. She's a strong leader who is totally at home in the kitchen. I know I'm not rolling the dice with her in Vegas because she is the real deal." Category:Episodes Category:Season 10